A new chapter has begun in Big 12 women's swimming and diving, and Texas is no longer the main character.
After hauling in eight consecutive Big 12 titles from 1999 to 2006, the longhorns have been forced to take more of a supporting role, as Saturday, day four of the Big 12 Championships at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, the Aggies were presented with their second consecutive conference crown.
"For so long we had to strive just to even get close to Texas, but because of them it has helped us get to where we are today," said Texas A&M coach Steve Bultman.
The statement came was after he was named Big 12 Swimming Coach of the Meet for the sixth time in seven seasons and the Aggies were posing for pictures after trouncing Texas 967-748.
In 2004 Texas A&M had a top-three recruiting class, and from that class came juniors Kristen Heiss and Julia Wilkinson, the 2007 Big 12 Swimmer of the Year and 2008 Big 12 Swimmer of the Meet, respectively.
Out of the 13 individual events this weekend, nine were won by that recruiting class. Wilkinson alone broke three all-time Big 12 records this weekend, the first swimmer to do so since Texas swimmer and U.S. Olympian Colleen Lanne did so in 2001. In total, A&M won 17 out of the 18 swimming events this weekend, including all five relays.
"The girls knew it would be a very tough battle to try and beat A&M this weekend, but they weren't about to let that affect how they performed individually," Texas coach Kim Brackin said.
In that regard, Texas succeeded, with the majority of each girl's time being a personal best.
Texas diver senior Mary Yarrison won both the 1- and 3-meter diving events and was crowned Big 12 Diver of the Meet, and freshman Natalie Sacco just missed qualifying for a spot in the NCAA championships in the 1,650-yard freestyle and was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Meet.
Susana Escobar came away with Texas' only swimming win in the 1,650 freestyle.
"It was exciting to see Susana have another great swim, and it sets her up for a great NCAA meet," Brackin said.
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